Prototyping questions:
- Does this prototype keep everyone engaged in conversation?
- This question is important to answer because we want everyone in the game to be engaged, but in a 1 on 1 debate format it could be easy to lose attachment when you aren’t debating
- By trying the same paper prototype multiple times with different rules relating to the number of people “involved” in the debate / judging process, we can answer this question
- With a 1 on 1 debate and a singular judge format, the players who aren’t debating or judging will have a hard time feeling involved in the game when its not their turn
- Should there be a narrative or theme in the game, or should it just be a turn based judgement game like Apples to Apples?
- It’s important to know whether or not we want to continue with a central theme, or if we want to just make the game fun with no connection between rounds
- We can try a prototype with just debating random fun topics, and one where we debate different fun topics that fall under one central theme, and see what people enjoy better
- I’m guessing people will enjoy the randomness, because it will have more of a party game feel where they don’t have to keep track of a theme
- Are the debate prompts vague enough to spark fun and sustainable debates? Are they specific enough?
- We want the topics to be vague enough where people don’t feel constrained about what points they can bring up, but we also want them to feel somewhat guided by the questions
- We can try a prototype that has questions that we believe to be vague, and then ask the playtesters what they think, and observe what kind of debates they have
- I predict that the more vague the topic, the more fun it will be because people will come up with absurd points and arguments